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Although I didn’t have many lessons as they were too expensive, I hacked out without any fear as you do when you are young.  I finally stopped riding when exams loomed and boys became a feature in my life and then over the years my work as a Bank Manager and family life took hold. 

I resumed regular riding about seven years ago. Work had become stressful I and wanted to get my work / home life balanced. One of my goals was to start riding again and recapture the fun of my younger days.  I began taking lessons along with my friend’s ten year old son.  I absolutely fell in love with horses all over again and knew that from this point they would form a large part of my life.
 
Having spent a long weekend riding in the New Forest, I looked for a longer riding holiday and noticed French Riding Holidays.  After chatting to Derek on the phone I thought it sounded brilliant. On my first trip I rode Djoser, a solid little meron who’s very good with novices. I was so nervous, my hands flew up in the air every time he jogged off and after the first morning the friend I had travelled with was concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy the rest of the holiday. However, after a long lunch break, a couple of glasses of wine and individual attention from Derek I settled down and thoroughly enjoyed the week improving my riding by leaps and bounds.

On the plane home I made arrangements to book up my next holiday in a couple of months time and on my second visit rode the fabulous Ullyss and Oracle. After only a little deliberation I decided to take a three month career break to learn more about horses, riding and France.  At the end of the three months I knew that France was where I wanted to be permanently returning every month before finally moving over lock, stock and barrel in July 2007.
 
Since making my home here I have learned so much, not only about riding the different horses all with their own characters and quirks, trusting Derek’s judgment implicitly (if he says I am capable of riding a certain horse then that’s good enough for me as his ability to match the horse and rider never ceases to amaze me) but I have also learned so much about the horses behaviours as they interact with each other and their riders. Every day brings another surprise in our lovely equine family.